Southern California Fires

[urstwile]

Anyone else affected by these?

I'm in San Diego, and know more than a few people who've had to be evacuated because of the unpredictable nature of the flames, because we're also in the middle of Santa Ana winds right now as well.

At least one person (co-worker) I know has lost their home entirely.

[morea]

I can't imagine dealing with this - being packed up and ready to evacuate at a moment's notice - I don't know if I would get any work done at all, because I'd be worrying too much about my pets and my family and other sentimental things to be very effective at work.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by this frightening situation.

[GraphixNPrint]

I couldn't image that short of notice... living in florida most of my life and going through many hurricanes (at least you usually get some notice with those). Its a pain in the arse when you have to make that last minute decision to run.

Best of luck to you and your friends and family urst... I hear on the news the winds are not going to die down today like they thought. Be careful.

[Samakimoto Graphics]

Heard it on the news yesterday...electric power lines ignited it or soemthing to that effect.

Must be terrible. *Pole sana* :(.

[tuliptree]

Eeek urst! Stay safe. I need to contact my friend and former college roommate, she and her family live in San Diego. My sister just got back from LA and she said she could see the fires from the beach in Santa Monica. Too bad the rain we had here last night and this morning couldn't have been imported your way. It rained for almost 12 hours straight.

[WannaBrie]

That sux Urst, are you in an evacuation area? Keep us posted!

[urstwile]

I myself am in a fairly safe area. The fires are still significantly northeast of my neighborhood.

What makes it really unpredictable is that the winds are not letting up at all, so predicting the direction the fires are going to go is even that much more difficult.

They shut down our office today, the majority of our clients are closed as well.

Tulip, I hope your friend is safe. :)

[tuliptree]

Thanks Urst! I am sending her an email right now. I just got another email from a friend of mine in Los Angeles, she says:

"My house isn't burning down and that's saying a lot this week. I'm supposed to go to San Diego next week to be a guest speaker at my friend's women's psych class but I think he's been evacuated and I'm guessing school will be closed down there next week. We'll see, but it's a bummer because I was looking forward to it and you never want people you know to get evacuated. At any rate, Sunset Strip [where this email was being written from] is not on fire and that's a good thing."

(hope she doesn't mind being quoted here, actually...if she makes quote of the week, I'll let her know that I did then! :p )

[GraphixNPrint]

Anyone else affected by these?

The canyon fire (Malibu) one is about 12 miles from one of our shops, blowing away from it right now so its business as usual for now.

The little Mountain Fire (San Bernadino) is about 25 miles from our other shop (east of it), so right now all is fine hopefully the winds die down.

[urstwile]

Yes, if only the winds would die down, this would be such a better situation, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen real soon. :(

One my friends' daughters' boyfriend is a firefighter, he's right in the middle of all of this. My friend was telling me that they're pretty much going into the different neighborhoods, and randomly picking which house to save, there just aren't enough of them to try to save them all. Man, what a difficult choice that's got to be to make. Where possible, they're dragging personal property either out into the street, or into cars that they're dragging out into the street as far away as possible from the actual fires.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKGF2bbxQ6E :(

[tuliptree]

Wow, that's pretty intense Urst. I can't imagine having to make a decision like that for others.
Glad to hear you are pretty safe where you are.

Edit: I just got an auto reply from my friend in San Diego....her offices were closed due to the fires. Ugh, I'm going to call her!

[urstwile]

If you have an alternate e-mail address for her, Tulip, you might want to try that. I suspect the circuits are on overload right now, best to keep the line free so people with emergency situations can get through, if at all possible.

I hope your friend's okay. :)

[frankster]

Nature is so fierce it's downright terrifying! Hope you and your friends and family stay safe!

[tuliptree]

Good thought urst, though she doesn't check her alternate often. She may be now though. But I will avoid phone, unless I start to really worry. And at that, I can get ahold of her parents via another friend.

[tuliptree]

Ok Urst...the alt email doesn't work, and our mutual friend (other old roomie) has not heard from her. She lives in Harmony Grove. Any idea if that area is out of harms way?

[D-Frag]

check it.... magic mountain...

http://www.latimes.com/media/photo/2007-10/33403749.jpg

satellite image

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a101/pmpbdyborder/CaliforniaTMOA2003299_lrg.jpg

[urstwile]

Ok Urst...the alt email doesn't work, and our mutual friend (other old roomie) has not heard from her. She lives in Harmony Grove. Any idea if that area is out of harms way?
Tulip, you might want to try phoning her then.

Here's a link (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=114250687465160386813.00043d08ac31fe3357571) that shows a Google map of the current areas where there are fires. If I have the right Harmony Grove, looks like her area might be kind of in one of the potential evacuation areas. :( Harmony Grove is west of Escondido.

D-Frag, those are some crazy pics, the magic mountain one is just scary. :(

[carter the artist]

The Irvine fire is only like 7 miles away from my house, we were a bit worried on sunday night as that one spread so quick off the bat.

[tuliptree]

Urst, her work email got through to her blackberry, she's ok but she and her family have been evacuated. There is a fire on the hill right behind her home and the military is there dropping water. Ugh! I'm glad she's safe though.

[urstwile]

I'm glad to hear that as well, Tulip, I got nervous when I saw how close Harmony Grove was to the potential evacuation area.

[urstwile]

The Irvine fire is only like 7 miles away from my house, we were a bit worried on sunday night as that one spread so quick off the bat.
Is that one contained, Carter? It's hard keeping track of all of the different fires, or at least I'm having a hard time keeping up, they're all spreading so unpredictably.

[carter the artist]

I don't know. One of the partner's homes and his son's house are both in danger over by Fountain Valley. I hope they have it better contained than it has been.

[urstwile]

I think all of these fires caught everyone very much off guard. I was surprised at how much had changed between Sunday night and Monday morning, and from last night to this morning. :eek:

[tuliptree]

Thanks for the link urstwile. I'm so happy they are ok, just hope their home will be, too. Carter, stay safe!

[carter the artist]

i try, tulip. But, they keep ripping... wait that was uncalled for...

[DonnaL]

Our distributor for our paper just left to go help out. He's a firefighter and does distribution for us once a week. I wish a safe return for him!

The winds here have been fierce as well. It's just so devasting! I hate seeing things like this. CNN.com has posted some incredible photos from users. If you can .. check them out!

[urstwile]

Wow, Donna, what a great guy! I really wish him well, these fires are no joke at all. When you next see him, tell him thank you from me. :)

[urstwile]

Nature is so fierce it's downright terrifying! Hope you and your friends and family stay safe!
Oooh, sorry, Frank, didn't mean to overlook your post. Thanks for the positive thoughts. :)

[DonnaL]

I will!

This was taken on Friday of last week.

He'll be leaving us to go work full-time as a firefighter in Flaggstaff, so not sure if he'll be coming by before his move but I will certainly thank him for you urst.

[urstwile]

Thanks Donna! The work that these guys do, and the conditions they do it in, they're amazing people.

[tuliptree]

i try, tulip. But, they keep ripping... wait that was uncalled for...

Are you saying you are the cause of the wind kicking up the fires, then? If so, then if they contain you, then they may be able to contain the fires sooner!

hahaha

ok, sorry to make light of a bad situation. DOH! Another bad funny.


Donna, wishes for a safe journey for your friend, too.

[carter the artist]

I was making an induendo about "being safe".

[tuliptree]

http://forums.viachicago.org/style_emoticons/default/blush.gif (http://javascript<b></b>:add_smilie() Oh! heh heh. I thought you meant something about breaking wind. Thought maybe you were suggesting you were kicking up the wind there in California.

[reuber1]

AT&T is awesome.

How awesome? And what does it have to do with this thread, you ask?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNnGVPyrOD0

There you go. What a bunch of a holes.

[DonnaL]

The smoke from the fires is hazed over Bullhead City, we're expecting it to get worse by tomorrow...... the sky is a brownish orange

[tuliptree]

Wow Donna.

I was happy to have gotten word from my friend again. She and her family were able to come back home today, she said the fires got very close to their house, but its intact. She said it smells terribly of smoke now though. I'm just happy they are all ok. I really got nervous for a moment the other day after seeing the maps.

[urstwile]

I'm really glad to hear that, tuliptree. :)

Most of my friends and co-workers are back home again as well.

[DonnaL]

Wow Tulip that's great to hear.... yeah I'm smelling the smoke here tonight... it's faint but it smells like fireplaces from people's homes... I took pictures of last night just as the smoke was heading this way... then one tonight with the haze... both were taken at the same time of day from the parking lot of where I live.

The files are too big to upload here so here's the links.... In the first picture you'll see a white truck.... well in the second picture I stood by the truck to get a close up of the sun.

http://www.seedonna4designs.com/DSCF2509.JPG

http://www.seedonna4designs.com/Smokey%20Haze%20in%20Bullhead.JPG

[tuliptree]

Thanks urst and Donna...urst I'm glad your friends are all ok too.

Wow Donna! Amazing photos. Thanks for sharing those.

[Tea]

How are things going for everyone? I hope you are all okay.

[Red Kittie Kat]

^^ me too

[urstwile]

Things are settling down somewhat, although the two largest fires, the Witch and Harris fires, are still not fully contained. The Santa Ana winds have died down, making things a lot easier for the firefighters to do what they need to do to contain the fires.

They're saying some of the fires are arson-started. :(

[Tea]

I just read that. Sad.

[carter the artist]

According to FOX NEWS they are trying to convince us that this is all a terrorist attack. Yeah, and I think Katrina was a terror attack tooo....

[urstwile]

Someone was telling me about that the other day, Carter. Ludicrous.

[Red Kittie Kat]

... again why I don't watch much news :rolleyes:

Good to here things are dying down tho :)

[carter the artist]

oh, Red, you can watch news, just not FOX NEWS.

[GraphixNPrint]

ahhh! Carter, Fox is the best IMO... but I mean the national network not local...

Hopefully all is going well with you and your family, and your fairly new job.

As for the terrorists, yeah, several of the fires were started by idiots from what I hear, just plain old idiots though, not IBL followers... just dumb @sses that dont have any regard for human life and property. I think we should hang them up by thier... well you know where I am going there.

Stay safe and cool down there Carter.

[carter the artist]

Thanks Graphix. All is good. I still haven't heard much how my uncle is, but my dad told me he is sure that the fire missed his neighborhood.

[Red Kittie Kat]

that's good new Carter :)

[morea]

ah, Faux News. Got to love it. :rolleyes:

[Navian]

Here is some interesting info on this.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071031/ap_on_re_us/california_wildfires

Officials blamed a wildfire that consumed more than 38,000 acres and destroyed 21 homes last week on a boy playing with matches, and said they would ask a prosecutor to consider the case.

That kid is going to be hating life.

[urstwile]

Yes, I saw that. And I agree, he's going to have the memory of that hanging over him for the rest of his life.

[frankster]

I kind of feel sorry for the kid. Little boys just often have a fascination with fire. My brother in law set fire to the gorse bushes on the side of the hill by his parents house by accident when he was 8 years old because he was playing with a box of cooks matches. He ran and hid under his bed when the fire truck arrived. Not a lot of damage though because Wales is rather damp at the best of times. I guess you need a lot more education on fire at a lot younger age when you live in such an easily ignitable place as California.

[urstwile]

I should have elaborated Frank, because I agree, I feel really sorry for him too. I hope this doesn't end up ruining his life, but at the same time, he should have been educated better as well as to why it's so dangerous, particularly in this area and at this time of year.

[GraphixNPrint]

:( On a personal note; when I was maybe 9 or so, a friend and I started a "camp fire" in the grassy land near our house. The area was maybe 10 acres or so. We had little rocks set up around it but the winds blew through and spread it to nearby grass. The area was also where people would drive into the overgrown grass and dump stuff, so I grabbed an old bed sheet in a pile of trash and tried to smother it but it caught fire and spread it more. I ran home and hid in my room, as my friend did too. There were fire trucks in our nieghborhood for hours that evening and I really wanted to look and see what happened, but was too afraid. The next day I went and looked at what had happened... the fire spread nearly a half mile down through the grass to the very back of a big shopping center. My mistake as a kid still haunts me to this day... imagine if it actually caught the shopping center on fire.

[urstwile]

I suspect that it will be similar for this kid, Graphix, although probably even worse, given the amount of damage he inadvertently caused.

I really hope the fact that it was accidental is a mitigating factor in how hard they throw the book at him. Hopefully there will be at least some compassion for the kid's mistake. After all, the Cedar fires (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Fire) were also started somewhat accidentally.

I really hope they find the suspected arsonist(s) for the Santiago fires. There's just nowhere in my mind I can find sympathy for someone who'd start a fire in this area at this time of year intentionally, just to cause this much destruction.

[GraphixNPrint]

I understand completely Urst.... I do live in Vegas but I have 2 print houses in the LA-SD area. Our production was not affected at our Burbank/Glendale shop but we did have people out beacuse of the fire at our Monrovia/Bradbury shop due to evacuations.